The present invention generally relates to a telecommunication network management system, and more particularly to a telecommunication network management system by which the configuration of each of a plurality of routers included in a network can collectively be set up, modified, and monitored.
A router is a widely used device that interconnects networks, and forwards data packets between networks by its routing operation. If, for example, a router is used to connect a local area network (LAN) with the Internet, it is necessary that it should be configured to connect both an Ethernet® cable from the LAN side and a telephone or dedicated line on the Internet side to the respective connectors of the router, and to provide a power supply to the router. In other words, a router needs to have an initial configuration set up in accordance with how it is connected, to have its initial configuration updated as required, and to manage its operation by continuously monitoring the operational conditions. To achieve such an end, each router has to be separately maintained by taking its specific situation into consideration, which is expensive and time-consuming. Usually, an engineer with telecommunications expertise logs in a router by using Telnet protocol, for example, and transmits configuration files to the router, thereby setting up its configuration. If such a conventional set up procedure is employed, it is necessary for a skilled engineer to work separately on every router to be set up.
This application is related to a co-pending Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-359720 entitled “Integrated Management System and Method for Network Connection Means”, filed on Dec. 11, 2002, which has been assigned to the same assignee of the present application, and which was published as Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-193988 on Jul. 8, 2004. The entire disclosure of this previous application is incorporated in this application. In this previous application, an invention (to be referred to as the previous invention) was proposed to overcome the problems associated with the prior art discussed in the paragraph above. In the present invention, we would like to propose a system and method, wherein the integrated management system and method similar to the previous ones have been modified so as to be applied to networks having both IPv4 and IPv6 as their telecommunication protocols.
First, the integrated management system disclosed in the previous application will be briefly reviewed with reference to FIG. 1, which corresponds to FIG. 2 of the previous application. FIG. 1 illustrates basic elements of the integrated management system of routers 100. Each of a plurality of routers 105, which are to be collectively managed by system 100, connects a LAN with an external network 106 such as the Internet, and performs routing operations of data packets between the LAN and network 106. In this example, a LAN may be a local network connecting a number of terminals that exist in a corporation or a public organization.
In system 100, two network servers, initial server 102 and user server 104, which function differently from each other, are provided. In such a configuration, it is supposed, in this example, that a new router 105 is to be used as a device that connects a LAN and network 106. In the storage (not shown) of router 105, when the router is just out of a factory, the data necessary to connect to initial server 102 is stored except for such security-related data as to encryption and cross-authentication. Also, an identifier such as a serial number is assigned to each of routers 105 so that each router may be identified uniquely. Data related to the identifiers of all the routers that are to be used in system 100 are stored in initial database 101, which is connected in initial server 102. Encryption such as SSL and SSH, and cross-authentication using digital signatures and other appropriate means are achieved in such a configuration.
Router 105, which is about to be used, is configured to automatically access initial server 102 when cables are connected to its connectors and power is supplied to it. Initial server 102, when it receives an access from router 105, first confirms that it is an illegal access, and recognizes the router through its identifier. Initial server 102 then obtains from initial database 101 the connection data, such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), to a user server 104 that is responsible for management of the accessing router, and sends the data to router 105. Initial server 102 functions as an operational guidance means for router 105 accessing it.
Router 105, when it receives from initial server 102 connection data to a corresponding user server 104, accesses the user server. The user server, responsive to an access from router 105, recognizes the accessing router 105 through its identifier, obtains from user database 103 configuration data necessary for the accessing router 105 to operate as a router, and transmits the data to router 105. Router 105, when it receives the configuration data from user server 103, has its initial configuration set up using the received data, and begins to operate.
As is briefly discussed above, the integrated management system of routers proposed in the previous application overcomes the problems encountered in the prior art systems that each router has be configured separately, and it becomes possible to manage a number of routers much more easily and efficiently. Further, routers, regardless of which telecommunication lines are connected to them, may be operated under the system. Also, in this integrated management system of routers proposed in the previous application, it is possible to automatically collectively provide an initial configuration of all the routers, update firmware and change configuration, and manage the operation by monitoring them regardless of whether the routers are connected to the Internet or to WANS.
In the example discussed above, it is assumed that the routers are employed to connect and perform routing operations among LANs within a corporation the branches of which are situated in a geometrically distributed manner, the Internet, and WANs. However, the invention disclosed in the previous application is not limited to routing devices with regard to what is managed by the integrated management system in accordance with the present invention. The system is capable of integrally managing such hardware, firmware, software, or any combination of these that are connected to one or more networks, as long as the configurations of these devices may be changed. For example, besides routers, the previous system is capable of managing WINDOWS® or Macintosh® personal computers and UNIX® workstations because these devices can be regarded as being network-connected terminals the configurations of which need to be set up.
In the previous application, it was not specifically mentioned whether the protocol of each of the networks connected by the routers is based on is IPv4 or IPv6. In this application, however, we would like to propose a new system and a method by which it is possible to integrally manage network connection means such as routers in networks wherein more than one protocol is used.